Medical personnel get health system up in Joplin

Friday

Freeman Health System near Joplin's destroyed St. John's hospital is open and fully functional, officials said at a Thursday morning press conference.

Freeman Health System is open and fully functional, officials said at a Thursday morning press conference.

That is the result of the hospital’s doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly to treat the hundreds of patients who turned up in pickup beds, cars and gurneys. They also performed 22 life-saving surgeries.

“That’s pretty amazing, when you don’t quite have the resources,” said Chief Medical Officer Richard Schooler. “You don’t tie up resources unless you think the patient is going to die.”

Hundreds of injured tornado victims began arriving at Freeman, which sits within blocks of St. John’s Regional Medical Center, minutes after the mammoth and violent vortex descended on the heart of Joplin. Hospital officials at the conference said the list of serious injuries includes severed limbs, crushing head injuries from flying objects and abdominal lacerations, among others.

“I can’t begin to describe the magnitude of injuries we saw that night,” said Bob Denton, Freeman’s director of emergency and trauma services, adding that in his 32 years of practice and training to be prepared, he wasn’t sure if anything could have prepared him for the size and scope of the tragedy.

“Everyone appeared to be critical, and that would be overwhelming for to even the most experienced staff. But the rose to the occasion and helped us to get through this.”

In the days after the tornado, FHS treated 916 patients, 124 of which were transferred to area, regional and state hospitals, officials said. Of those, 11 died as a result of their wounds.

Chief Clinical Officer Paula Baker said 111 victims are still at the hospital, and that there were no unidentified victims.

The efficient treatment of those patients would have been even harder without help from clinical personnel who turned up from other cities and states to volunteer, Denton said.

“I’m not sure how many staff came from outside the hospital,” Denton said, adding that Freeman received many of its out-of-state doctors because the governor allowed them to practice without a Missouri state license, as long as they could prove they had one in their own state. “It seems like every time we turned around there was another angel at the door.”

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